Concentration develops naturally through continuous noting. Don't try to force concentration to arise.

The way to change others' minds is with affection, and not anger.

Sensations are not your enemy. They are your teacher. Through observing them, you understand the truth of existence.

Technical knowledge is not enough. One must transcend techniques so that the art becomes an artless art, growing out of the unconscious.

Hasten slowly and you will soon arrive.

Life is available only in the present moment.

The mind is like a well-forged sword - it adapts to all situations.

The practice of meditation requires both energy and patience, both effort and relaxation.

When thoughts arise, recognize them as the display of your own awareness, like recognizing your own children in a crowd.

Just as true humor is laughter at oneself, true humanity is knowledge of oneself.

The purpose of meditation is not to create a mental vacuum but to come to know one's own mind.

Enlightenment is not about becoming divine. Instead, it's about becoming more fully human.

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.

The real meaning of enlightenment is to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

What you are is what you have been. What you'll be is what you do now.

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It's a relationship between equals.

When the iron bird flies and horses run on wheels, the Tibetan people will be scattered like ants across the face of the earth.

We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don't really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It's just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.

If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?

The more we understand our mind, the more we understand the world.

Each moment of mindfulness is a moment of purification.

Faith is not a commodity that you either have or don't have - it is an inner quality that unfolds as we learn to trust our own deepest experience.

When you understand that all phenomena are impermanent, unsatisfactory, and non-self, attachment naturally falls away.

The idea of Zen is to catch life as it flows. There is nothing extraordinary or mysterious about Zen. I raise my hand; I take a book from the other side of the desk; I hear the boys playing ball outside my window; I see the clouds blown away beyond the neighboring wood: all these I do in Zen.

Karma is not fate but the law of moral causation, showing us that we are the architects of our own destiny.

The willingness to empty ourselves and then seek our true nature is an expression of great and courageous love.

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few.

The practitioner and practice are like fire and wood. The more you practice, the more you burn.

Change is the nature of every phenomenon. Accept this truth and you will live a happy life.

Intrinsically all living beings are Buddhas, just as ice and water are of the same substance.

The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms.

Compassion is not something we develop. It arises naturally as we see the truth of what is.

The menu is not the meal.